The Hurricane. (Angela and Radar, Part 3)
Radar turned to Angela and pointed at the hill ahead of them and to his delight she actually smiled, seeing it and why he was pointing at it. She nodded and the quickened their pace. Somehow, they managed to fight the rushing water, the flying debris, and the horrible pain of their injuries and get to the top of that hill and up to the small line of trees.
Angela looked warily at the trees; they were rocking and bending in the storm and ever now and then a branch would snap off of one of them and go flying. At least the wind had slowed down to a point that the trees were no longer getting torn out of the ground like the were a while ago. Angela looked at Radar, "We've got to go through. Getting back is the only thing we can do."
Radar led Angela through the small cluster of trees; it didn't take nearly as long as they thought and wasn't even half as dangerous. Before they knew it they were stepping out onto the parking lot of Culver Creek Boarding School. Everything was flooded, some cars had been swept away, but at least right now the water here was only knee-high. Radar looked over at the school-or at least, what he could see of it through the still persistant rain and stinging gusts of wind. He would see some destroyed roofs, trees that had falled into dorm rooms, a wall or two that looked split or torn apart. He sighed and walked forward.
Angela who was getting sleepier by the minute followed him, limping, and barely noticing the rain beating down on her and the wind that threatened to push her over. They'd been in it for so long at this point, fighting it was beginning to become a second nature to her. They entered the school through the main entrance a few minutes later; thankful to be out of the horrible storm. Angela's ears were ringing from fighting the elements out there and her nose and arm wouldn't stop throbbing; as she entered the not warm, but slightly warmer building it made the pain even worse.
Radar's head was still pounding something awful and he was fighting the urge to sit down on the soaked and debris littered floor, right there in the hallway. "Where should we go?" He looked over at Angela who was cradling her arm against her and kind of swaying on her feet. He went to her and put his arms around her, holding her still. Blood from his head getting in her hair and on her neck. He kept wondering where everyone else was. There was no one in this hallway and it was impossible to hear anything over the storm, he and Angela had to scream to speak to each other. He had a frightening thought: There could be people in here close by, people trapped under debris, hurt and bleeding, or even dying...and they wouldn't be able to hear them calling for help...or screaming or...-Radar shivered and pushed the thought away. It was then he realized he couldn't stand anymore and plopped down in the foot of water that ran smoothly along the corridor floor. He leaned his back against the wall and sighed.
Angela kneeled down next to Radar, worried he might have a concussion. "Are you okay? Don't fall asleep okay. Keep talking to me. We can rest for a minute though...we're...safe now, right?" At that moment the lights in the hall flickered and went out entirely. Angela could hear the wind roaring outside and the walls groaning under the pressure of the quickening storm. "Please tell me this isn't about to get worse..." Angela said as she too sat down in the wet hallway and wrapped her good arm around one of Radar's.
They sat there, arm in arm for nearly an hour as the wind and rain tore through campus; the hurricane destroying more and more of what was now their home. Luckily, nothing happened to the main hall where they sat. No trees fell, no debris flew inside, there were few windows and all of them were already broken and quite a ways down the hall from them so there were no worries there. What seemed like a lifetime later dim lights came on lighting the hallway again-emergency lights.
Angela got up slowly, favoring the broken wrist on her left as she did. She walked slowly over to the doors and peered out. Outside it was still storming, but in an almost normal way. Rain and a bit of wind. The foot or so of water that covered most of the ground wasn't rushing anymore, just moving slowly along carrying bits and pieces of everyones lives along with it. The rain no longer came down sideways at the speed of bullets, but fell straight down at the speed you'd think rain should. And the wind, though still strong, was no longer bending trees in half and threatening to take whole buildings down. Angela went back to Radar and tapped his face gently to make sure he was awake. She waited until he opened his eyes and said, "It's over! Or...at least it mostly is. Come on, we've got to find help. Someone needs to look at your head before we do anything else." She helped him to his feet and they started slowly down the hall, looking for someone else, any sign of life, and hopefully someone who could point them in the direction of help.
